Empaths and Manifesting Part 4

For the purposes of this article, consider ritual as an action that you repeat to help alter your mindset and to help facilitate a certain goal to become manifest. (Think of your bedtime ritual, and how that helps to set the stage for you to unwind and go to sleep.) Ceremonies are any form of conscious action to mark the passage or creation of something you desire. Wedding ceremonies, birthdays, graduation parties – these are ALL forms of ceremony. They celebrate triumphs, and they ‘make it more real’. A lot of people are intimidated by the word ‘ceremony’ and ‘ritual’. Let’s take a look at each of these as a tool for manifesting from the empath’s perspective.

Ceremonies

Let’s start by dismissing the pomp and circumstance around ceremony. Ceremonies are something that is completely accessible and useful to everyone. To do this, try thinking of the ceremony as having two parts: the symbolic planning of an event, circumstance or change you wish to manifest; and the celebration that you’re going to have once it’s achieved.

Consider this for a moment. How much power does a wedding ring have? Not much from a practical perspective. It’s a tiny piece of shiny metal that been shaped into an “o” to slide on one of your digits. It doesn’t stop bullets or raise the dead; most likely no hobbits or halflings dragged it around the world because it’s metaphysical sway could be too dangerous. But it can be a truly magical little piece of jewelry. It has the power to transform a bachelor into a husband, to symbolize a commitment, to mark the end of a journey alone and the beginning of another journey with another. It is a physical embodiment and representation of Love, specifically the love felt between two individuals and the promise of a life built together.

To ceremonially do something, we essentially are using symbolic items and actions to converse with the Universe to plan out and/or mark the change we want to occur. We are symbolically enacting the occurrence, or you can think of it as energetically planning it. This can take on whatever form you want it to. Mark the actions with the use of dolls. Write a list, poem, or prayer then burn it to release it to the Universe after reciting it. Try the same with a drawing or some other form of art or craft. The choices are limitless, and frankly while there are some traditional methods and formats that you can use, it’s more about setting the space as sacred and acting within that sacredness.

The word ‘sacred’ comes from old French or Latin – sacrer (French) or sacrare (Latin) – meaning to consecrate, anoint, make holy, or dedicate. Setting sacred space then can mean to set a space that is anointed and consecrated with the purpose of finding that which makes us whole (holy) and dedicating ourselves to that pursuit. To create a sacred space, you basically just have to make the circumstances feel sacred. This can be done through intent alone, or you can add a few props.

Personally, I like to incorporate candles and incense into my ceremonies. When I strike a match to light a candle, the sound of the match igniting and the burst of flame immediately bring my senses into that space of magic. I can feel the air warm from the light and I love watching the flame travel down the wick before settling in once it reaches the wax. It’s entrancing and intoxicating. I use a lot of glass encased candles (because they are easy to find and seem safer than pillars or tapers to me) but any kind of candle will do. I like my fancy specialty candles designed for a particular condition, purpose, or to interact with a particular spiritual force. I equally like my multicolored Chanukah candles. But it isn’t the kind of candle that’s all that important – it’s the setting of the Light.

Candles bring light into darkness. You can visualize/actualize a problem that you’re having as being the wax of a candle, then just watch that Light burn it’s way through those issues. If you see yourself as the flame, then write out your goals and place them under the candle as it burns. Watch the flame grow closer and closer to your desires, shedding more and more light on them until finally reaching them. Rub yourself down with a tealight candle from head to toe and state that all fear/insecurity/negativity/(however you want to word it) is pressing itself into the wax, then watch as the candle burns away all the junk you were holding in your energy field.

Incense is also a powerful ally in crafting a ceremony. The sense of smell is most strongly associated with memories, and there is an entire science to healing through the olfactory sense (aromatherapy). Incense has always been considered very sacred. Incense is mentioned as an offering in many ancient holy books, especially resinous incenses like frankincense and myrrh (both of which are amazingly healing substances). Frankincense has even been proven to help lift the mood, which is an amazing help when you are seeking to leverage your emotions for manifesting!

Smudging is a practice that originates with Native American culture, and is using the smoke from burning herbs to clear and consecrate a space. The most commonly used herb is white sage, and the smoke from this plant has actually been studied and proven to help kill harmful germs (so I do a lot of smudging during cold and flu season). That being said, white sage is just one plant that’s been used for this purpose. Native wormood, desert sage, and other plants in the Artemisia family have also been used, including mugwort. A form of mugwort is also used in traditional Chinese medicine in a practice called moxibustion. This is where they use the heat and smoke of burning mugwort that’s been aged, then rolled into a moxa stick, to penetrate and clear blocked energy in the acupuncture meridians.

The act of lighting an incense stick and watching the smoke rise to the Heavens carrying your prayers and desires – this is a truly spiritual experience. It’s hard to not feel the sacredness when you pair this particular tool with a manifesting ceremony. As I’ve said, it doesn’t matter so much what you’re doing; what matters is that you are doing it with intent.

After you finish your ceremony, I find it helpful to start planning that celebration of accomplishment that I mentioned earlier. I usually like to incorporate a piece of the ceremony into my little celebrations just to tie them together. For example, I did a ceremony to be able to attend a training for mediumship in Maine several years ago. In the ceremony, I prayed over, blessed and consecrated a tie and a small bag of stones. I carried those stones with me everywhere until I got to Maine, and then once there, I wore the tie out to a celebratory dinner at a restaraunt on the water, and I tossed the stones into the ocean as a symbol of my gratitude for the experience. I also wore the tie on the first day of the intensive workshop.

Timing

To get the most bang for your buck, it’s helpful to honor the tides of time by paying attention to specific timing. Some people use astrology, others use the moon cycles, and some honor the days of the week for having particular affinities. Here is a very brief listing of timing that you can harness to amplify your intent.

I mentioned that rituals are actions that you repeat to help alter your mindset and to facilitate a certain goal to become manifest. By designing a regularly practiced ritual, you bring yourself into conscious alignment with your desired result. It’s all about bringing it all together! Think of the ritual that you construct for yourself as a healthy habit to reinforce your manifesting ability. And here is a great way to approach it.

First, start by developing your practice of meditation and introspection. Reflect on your desires. Start journaling and truly get to the core of what your desire is! Use affirmations to help you align with your purpose. All of these are things that can (and should) be considered on a daily basis.

Then, construct a ceremony bearing in mind the timing that you want to use to reinforce it. If your goal is a long term one, this is a ceremony that you may want to repeat on a weekly or monthly basis. Keep the timing in mind to help you reinforce your ceremonial purpose.

I like to create my vision boxes in a sacred space, so I frequently will utilize a ceremony when crafting one. I’ll have my candles and incense going as I pray my intention into the project. I also like to bless or pray my intention into any stones or charms that I may carry around during a ceremony.

Most importantly, don’t send your awareness into the future. Bring the future to your present moment! In other words, don’t let these actions place all of your attention on what will eventually happen. Remember that these tools are in place to remind you that the feeling that underpins that situation already exists within your life! Gain access to that feeling and grow it! Fertilize the field in which you’re growing your intent. Feel the feeling, the realizing and actualizing of your desire will follow.

So concludes this little series of articles. I hope that this has shown you what amazing and powerful manifesters that empaths can be. We journeyed all the way from Delphi, explored some yogic philosophy, discussed crafting tools to aid in the realization of our vision and finally using ceremonies to empower that vision into being. We often forget what a blessing empathy can be. It’s hard to see the bright side when you’re covered in emotional muck, but hopefully this slant on manifesting has given you a bit of a different perspective, or at least got you thinking.